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Make Sure Your Driveway Drains Properly and Meets Planning Rules

Putting in off-street parking makes life more convenient and add to the value of your home. But make sure you think about drainage from the outset.

Towns and cities the length and breadth of the UK have street after street of homes that were built around the turn of the century. The fact that they are standing as firm now as they were 100 years ago speaks volumes for the build quality, and there is nothing quite like an older house when it comes to feelings of homeliness and character.

One of the few downsides is, of course, that these homes predate the ubiquity of the motor car. Back then, the notion of every home having one or more cars would have been as alien as the idea of us all having a helicopter parked outside seems today. Fast forward to 2018, and many of those Victorian homes have had their front gardens levelled and surfaced over for parking. If you are having to leave your car at the side of the road every night, the idea of doing a similar conversion is certain to have crossed your mind.

The price of parking

The fact that so many houses have already concreted over their front gardens to add off street parking has made the whole topic an emotive one. After all, from an ecological perspective, nobody wants to see our suburbs turned into a concrete jungle. There are also more prosaic reasons to think twice about laying that concrete slab, however.
If you use concrete, tarmac or some other non-porous material, you need to keep in mind that this will prevent rainwater and runoff from soaking into the